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From presidents Carter, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush.

LBJ and The Logic of Escalation

Five days before this call, Dr. King had given a speech in Petersburg, Virginia, to a chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. According to theNew York Times, King declared that “the war in Vietnam must be stopped” and called for “a negotiated settlement even with the Vietcong.”

President Johnson did not welcome these comments since he was soon to initiate a major escalation of the war, calling up 100,000 American soldiers to go to Vietnam. The first two-thirds of the call concerned voting rights legislation pending before Congress (to be signed into law a month later). King brought up the Petersburg matter towards the end of the call. In response, Johnson offers a detailed rationale for his war-fighting strategy, highlighting the risks of pulling out, as well as those of getting in too directly.

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In the wake of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's recent trip to South Vietnam, Johnson had pressed him to prepare a speech on the subject, as several members of Congress were beginning to suggest that the administration consider a sharp revision of its policy there.